Distrust in Government Growing

Distrust in the government is growing, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll released Tuesday. Reports of the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of tea party and conservative groups have grown in volume and intensity over the past month, and the number of Americans following stories about the IRS scandal is now higher than ever.

The poll shows more Americans are following the news reports about the IRS scandal than they were just a month ago. Eighty-two percent of American voters said they were following the IRS targeting story, with 44 percent saying they were following news reports about the scandal "very closely."

Americans also aren't buying statements that the targeting is solely taking place at the Cincinnatioffice. Seventy percent of Americans believe the IRS decision to target tea party and other conservative groups was made in Washington -- a 5 percent increase from last month. That percentage includes the 29 percent who believe the decision was made at IRS headquarters and the 44 percent who believe the decision was made directly at the White House. A mere 17 percent of voters believe the decision was actually made at the Cincinnati office.

Only 21 percent of voters believe the IRS targeting was purely coincidence. Sixty-one percent believe the IRS decision was politically motivated. More than half of voters believe it's likely Obama and his administration were aware of the targeting, despite the president saying otherwise.

The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted June 16-17. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.